Benatia Atones for Manchester City Error as Bayern Munich Trounce Augsburg

At half-time of Bayern Munich's Bundesliga encounter with Augsburg on Saturday, the hosts looked resolute and ready to fight to the very end against their first-placed foes.

The scoreline read 0-0 at the interval, with Pep Guardiola's side doing well to sting Alexander Manninger's gloves but not enough to score the all-important opener. FCA proved to be tough opponents heading into the game—third in the table—and threw every last bit of effort into breaking up the visitors' attack.

Bayern needed a hero to step up and got just that in the unlikely form of Mehdi Benatia. In the 58th minute, the centre-back rose to meet a free kick with a delicate header that just barely managed to cross the goal line. From that point on, it was easy going for the visitors, who in the end were 4-0 winners.

A look at the final score might suggest an inevitable blowout, but scoring is always easier with the lead, and the most important goal is the one that is the greatest blow to the opposition's aspirations, the one that requires they come out and attack: the opener.

As great as Arjen Robben was in scoring a brace, it was Benatia who broke the deadlock, and he deserves extra credit for that.

Saturday was a great time for Benatia to score his first Bundesliga goal. He'd come a long way in his Bayern career after initially being benched, developing a partnership with Jerome Boateng that looked to be one of the finest in all of Europe.

However, a woeful mistake in a Champions League match against Manchester City last month cost Bayern points and resulted in Benatia's reputation taking a significant hit. Beaten for pace by Sergio Aguero, he made a foolish mistake in attempting a hopeless tackle that resulted in his early sending-off and a penalty that the Argentine converted.

It was a needless and avoidable red card, one more likely earned out of frustration in a moment of madness. Bayern were forced to manage with 10 men for 70 minutes and, despite playing very well, ultimately sank to a 3-2 defeat.

Benatia's mistake led to his benching in the following game, and heading into the Augsburg match, he'd missed two out of three for Bayern. Back in the starting XI against Augsburg, Benatia did quite well at the back (according to the official Bundesliga live ticker, he won 12 out of 16 challenges and completed 95.5 percent of his 89 passes) albeit in a quiet way considering the hosts' lack of any discernible world-class talent in attack.

He needed another way to make himself stand out. With the Bavarians struggling to beat Manninger, the time was right for the 27-year-old to redeem himself, and he did just that by putting his side on course for three points.

Saturday's opener should be enough to silence the critics of Benatia's mentality. He'd tested the Augsburg goalkeeper before scoring, and his goal wasn't his final attempt of the game, either. He quite clearly was set on making an impact in what was ostensibly Bayern's biggest challenge before the winter break, a derby match away to the Bundesliga's third-placed team.

Like all great heroes, he stepped up when it mattered most—a perfect response to the critics.

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